對(duì)于很多中端商學(xué)院來(lái)說(shuō)，過(guò)去幾年的日子可謂相當(dāng)艱難。

由于前些年涌現(xiàn)的MBA熱潮，MBA已經(jīng)成為美國(guó)最普遍的研究生學(xué)位，但時(shí)至今日，MBA的高速增長(zhǎng)已經(jīng)陷入停滯。有些大學(xué)由于申請(qǐng)和入學(xué)人數(shù)過(guò)低，已經(jīng)取消了全日制在校MBA項(xiàng)目，比如維克森林大學(xué)和西蒙斯學(xué)院等。僅僅三個(gè)月前，羅切斯特大學(xué)西蒙商學(xué)院剛剛把兩年制MBA的學(xué)費(fèi)下調(diào)了將近14%。另一方面，長(zhǎng)期作為商業(yè)教育利潤(rùn)大頭的在職MBA的入學(xué)率也在下滑。

就在MBA熱逐漸冷卻的同時(shí)，越來(lái)越多的專業(yè)碩士學(xué)位項(xiàng)目正在各大商學(xué)院遍地開(kāi)花，因?yàn)樗鼈兲峁┝艘粡埱舐毜摹翱燔嚻薄薄Ｗ詮?009年左右以來(lái)，各大頂級(jí)商學(xué)院都在以極快的速度添加此類專業(yè)碩士項(xiàng)目，所涉及的領(lǐng)域既包括金融和市場(chǎng)營(yíng)銷等傳統(tǒng)專業(yè)，也包括商業(yè)分析、大數(shù)據(jù)等熱門領(lǐng)域，以及其他一系列較為小眾的商業(yè)課程。

過(guò)去三年里，美國(guó)排名前25名的商學(xué)院有一半都推出了新的專業(yè)碩士項(xiàng)目，而且這些項(xiàng)目也吸引了大量的申請(qǐng)者。據(jù)美國(guó)研究生管理錄取委員會(huì)統(tǒng)計(jì)，全球超過(guò)五分之一有意申請(qǐng)商學(xué)院的學(xué)生僅僅關(guān)注這些專業(yè)碩士項(xiàng)目。

但一些圈內(nèi)人也警告稱，有些商學(xué)院僅僅是把這些日益火爆的專業(yè)碩士學(xué)位當(dāng)成印鈔機(jī)，可能無(wú)法提供學(xué)生真正想要的成果。

對(duì)于考慮就讀商科研究生教育的人來(lái)說(shuō)，專業(yè)碩士為他們提供了一塊進(jìn)入商界的跳板，等到學(xué)生需要晉升或者轉(zhuǎn)行從事一般管理崗位時(shí)，他們?nèi)匀豢梢岳^續(xù)拿一個(gè)MBA學(xué)位。很多專業(yè)碩士項(xiàng)目瞄準(zhǔn)了剛剛畢業(yè)的大學(xué)生，也有較少一部分專業(yè)碩士項(xiàng)目主要針對(duì)處于職業(yè)生涯早期和中期的職場(chǎng)人士。

范德堡大學(xué)歐文管理學(xué)院院長(zhǎng)埃里克?約翰遜表示：“我們不認(rèn)為這些項(xiàng)目是‘MBA的簡(jiǎn)化版’，它們更像是本科項(xiàng)目的加強(qiáng)版。”全美排名前50的商學(xué)院的專業(yè)碩士項(xiàng)目主要集中在以下六個(gè)領(lǐng)域：會(huì)計(jì)、商業(yè)分析、金融、管理、金融工程、供應(yīng)鏈管理。

大多數(shù)專業(yè)碩士項(xiàng)目都需要申請(qǐng)者通過(guò)GMAT或GRE考試，但和MBA不同的是，專業(yè)碩士一般不需要比較豐富的工作經(jīng)驗(yàn)，不過(guò)技術(shù)類學(xué)位一般都要求申請(qǐng)者修完本科級(jí)別的課程，或者擁有本科學(xué)位。

頂級(jí)商學(xué)院專業(yè)碩士畢業(yè)生的就業(yè)率和起薪通常比較高，許多排名中游的商學(xué)院在這方面也表現(xiàn)得相當(dāng)不錯(cuò)。比如，加州大學(xué)洛杉磯分校安德森管理學(xué)院于2008年增設(shè)了一個(gè)金融工程碩士學(xué)位。在該項(xiàng)目2014年的畢業(yè)生中，有93%在畢業(yè)后三個(gè)月內(nèi)找到了工作，較2010年的75%有明顯提高。而且，2014級(jí)畢業(yè)生的平均起薪為85,000美元（較前幾年有所下降。2010到2013年，該校金融工程專業(yè)碩士畢業(yè)生的起薪達(dá)到了95,000到100,000美元之間，已經(jīng)非常接近該校MBA專業(yè)2014級(jí)畢業(yè)生平均110,000美元的起薪。）

德克薩斯大學(xué)麥庫(kù)姆斯商學(xué)院的商業(yè)分析碩士項(xiàng)目去年只招收60名學(xué)生，但它一共收到了650份入學(xué)申請(qǐng)。就大學(xué)畢業(yè)后直接進(jìn)入該項(xiàng)目就讀的學(xué)生而言，畢業(yè)后的平均起薪（2013年和2014年）約為75,000美元。而兩個(gè)班級(jí)所有學(xué)生的起薪中值約為89,000美元。相比之下，該校2014年MBA畢業(yè)生的起薪為107,000美元。在該校商業(yè)分析專業(yè)的碩士畢業(yè)生中，除了一名學(xué)生以外，所有人都在畢業(yè)后60天內(nèi)找到了工作。

要想從商學(xué)院拿到一個(gè)專業(yè)碩士學(xué)位，一般來(lái)說(shuō)要比讀MBA便宜得多，這主要是由于專業(yè)碩士一般只需要讀一年甚至更短。但專業(yè)碩士的學(xué)費(fèi)并不便宜。比如，在紐約大學(xué)斯特恩商學(xué)院，三個(gè)碩士項(xiàng)目每年的平均學(xué)費(fèi)高達(dá)69,000美元。卡耐基梅隆大學(xué)泰珀商學(xué)院開(kāi)設(shè)的計(jì)算金融學(xué)專業(yè)碩士項(xiàng)目長(zhǎng)度為16個(gè)月，學(xué)費(fèi)達(dá)到8萬(wàn)美元以上。

在美國(guó)排行前25名的商學(xué)院中，最便宜的專業(yè)碩士項(xiàng)目是信息系統(tǒng)學(xué)，提供該項(xiàng)目的有華盛頓大學(xué)福斯特商學(xué)院（33,000美元）和印第安那大學(xué)凱利商學(xué)院（34,500美元）。密歇根州立大學(xué)布勞德商學(xué)院的會(huì)計(jì)和市場(chǎng)研究碩士項(xiàng)目，對(duì)該州居民只收取30,000美元的學(xué)費(fèi)。

在排名較高的商學(xué)院，專業(yè)碩士學(xué)生要想順利畢業(yè)，也得花一番苦功才行。比如麥庫(kù)姆斯商學(xué)院商業(yè)分析專業(yè)的系主任邁克爾?哈斯勒指出：“學(xué)生要在被壓縮的時(shí)間段里刻苦學(xué)習(xí)。”該校商業(yè)分析專業(yè)每學(xué)期需要修滿15個(gè)學(xué)時(shí)，而德克薩斯大學(xué)的其它9個(gè)研究生項(xiàng)目每學(xué)期一般只要求修滿9個(gè)學(xué)時(shí)。

凱利商學(xué)院的菲利浦?鮑韋爾認(rèn)為，苛刻的要求會(huì)給專業(yè)碩士項(xiàng)目帶來(lái)有益的影響。“如果你推出一個(gè)比MBA更嚴(yán)格的項(xiàng)目，那么只有這種顛覆性的方法，才能給項(xiàng)目帶來(lái)價(jià)值。我們認(rèn)為，一個(gè)專業(yè)碩士項(xiàng)目要想獲得成功，它在某些方面就需要比MBA更苛刻。”

另外，專業(yè)碩士項(xiàng)目一般會(huì)吸引來(lái)大量的國(guó)際學(xué)生。比如密歇根大學(xué)羅斯商學(xué)院供應(yīng)鏈管理專業(yè)有90%的學(xué)生都是國(guó)際學(xué)生。加州大學(xué)洛杉磯分校安德森管理學(xué)院和卡耐基梅隆大學(xué)泰珀商學(xué)院的金融工程專業(yè)有80%是國(guó)際學(xué)生。杜克大學(xué)福庫(kù)商學(xué)院的管理碩士專業(yè)有43%是國(guó)際學(xué)生，麥庫(kù)姆斯商學(xué)院的商業(yè)分析碩士專業(yè)有37%是國(guó)際學(xué)生。

在美國(guó)商學(xué)院排行榜的中游，有相當(dāng)一部分商學(xué)院開(kāi)設(shè)了數(shù)量更為龐大的專業(yè)碩士項(xiàng)目。在Poets&Quants網(wǎng)站給出的美國(guó)商學(xué)院排行榜上，排名前25名的商學(xué)院中，只有3所開(kāi)設(shè)了5個(gè)以上的專業(yè)碩士項(xiàng)目。而在排名第26到第50名的商學(xué)院中，有些商學(xué)院開(kāi)設(shè)了相當(dāng)多的專業(yè)碩士項(xiàng)目。比如排在第26名的南加州大學(xué)馬歇爾商學(xué)院提供了11種專業(yè)碩士學(xué)位，排名第50的天普大學(xué)福克斯商學(xué)院提供了13種專業(yè)碩士學(xué)位。

排在前50強(qiáng)中下游的一些商學(xué)院除了開(kāi)設(shè)傳統(tǒng)的會(huì)計(jì)和金融等專業(yè)外，還提供了很多小眾商業(yè)領(lǐng)域的專業(yè)碩士學(xué)位，比如南加州大學(xué)馬歇爾商學(xué)院除了開(kāi)設(shè)金融學(xué)和營(yíng)銷學(xué)的專業(yè)碩士學(xué)位，還提供醫(yī)療管理碩士、圖書(shū)館信息管理碩士和資深商業(yè)碩士等學(xué)位。天普大學(xué)福克斯商學(xué)院開(kāi)設(shè)的專業(yè)既包括營(yíng)銷、會(huì)計(jì)和商業(yè)分析等熱門學(xué)科，也包括網(wǎng)絡(luò)安全和精算學(xué)等較為小眾的學(xué)科。

實(shí)際上，如果你認(rèn)真檢索一下排名在全美50強(qiáng)中下游的商學(xué)院，你幾乎能找到適合任何職業(yè)方向的專業(yè)碩士項(xiàng)目，從加州大學(xué)歐文分校梅里吉商學(xué)院的生物工程管理碩士，到威斯康星商學(xué)院的全球不動(dòng)產(chǎn)碩士，再到南衛(wèi)理公會(huì)大學(xué)庫(kù)克斯商學(xué)院的運(yùn)動(dòng)管理碩士，再到喬治華盛頓大學(xué)的政府合同碩士——總有一款專碩適合你。

專業(yè)碩士項(xiàng)目的遍地開(kāi)花，以及班級(jí)規(guī)模的擴(kuò)大，也是一系列因素共同影響的結(jié)果。首先對(duì)于學(xué)生來(lái)說(shuō)，很多大學(xué)畢業(yè)生都想迅速“鍍金”，在求職時(shí)將自己和其他本科畢業(yè)生區(qū)別開(kāi)來(lái)。而對(duì)企業(yè)來(lái)說(shuō)，科技的進(jìn)步使每個(gè)領(lǐng)域的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)都在加劇，企業(yè)也想雇傭能夠立竿見(jiàn)影產(chǎn)出成果的員工，不想耗費(fèi)時(shí)間對(duì)其進(jìn)行崗前培訓(xùn)。

不過(guò)，商學(xué)院咨詢機(jī)構(gòu)Eduvantis公司的創(chuàng)始人蒂姆?維斯特貝克也提醒道，有意申請(qǐng)專業(yè)碩士項(xiàng)目的學(xué)生必須警醒，市面上的專碩項(xiàng)目魚(yú)龍混雜，不乏一些教學(xué)質(zhì)量低劣的魚(yú)目混珠之輩，這些低質(zhì)量的專碩學(xué)位并不會(huì)給學(xué)生帶來(lái)他們想要的成果。

“有人到一所商學(xué)院讀書(shū)，結(jié)果學(xué)校卻說(shuō)：‘唉，我們還以為這是一個(gè)提供專碩項(xiàng)目的很好領(lǐng)域呢……但是事實(shí)證明我們的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力有問(wèn)題。’這種情況并不鮮見(jiàn)。” 維斯特貝克說(shuō)。

維斯特貝克指出，這些問(wèn)題之所以會(huì)發(fā)生，幾乎都是由于商學(xué)院的管理者們對(duì)本地的市場(chǎng)情況關(guān)注不夠造成的——一方面是對(duì)學(xué)生就業(yè)市場(chǎng)關(guān)注不足，另一方面則是對(duì)商學(xué)院的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)環(huán)境關(guān)注不足。

印第安那大學(xué)凱利商學(xué)院的菲利浦?鮑韋爾對(duì)許多教育機(jī)構(gòu)的專業(yè)碩士學(xué)位抱有更謹(jǐn)慎的態(tài)度。

鮑韋爾是凱利商學(xué)院“凱利直通”在線專業(yè)碩士項(xiàng)目的負(fù)責(zé)人，他表示：“有些商學(xué)院不顧一切地推出了專業(yè)碩士項(xiàng)目，他們想掙一筆快錢。考慮到這些商學(xué)院的做法，真正設(shè)計(jì)得非常優(yōu)秀的專碩項(xiàng)目其實(shí)是非常稀缺的。就連一些優(yōu)秀的商學(xué)院也打算推出質(zhì)量較差的專碩項(xiàng)目。”

鮑韋爾認(rèn)為，專業(yè)碩士的快速膨脹，在很大程度上與MBA學(xué)位的需求下滑有關(guān)。“MBA成本的增長(zhǎng)速度超過(guò)了它所能帶來(lái)的效益。不論何時(shí)，當(dāng)這種情況在一個(gè)市場(chǎng)中發(fā)生，都會(huì)給那些能提供更好價(jià)值的替代品創(chuàng)造更大需求。而目前MBA的機(jī)會(huì)成本已經(jīng)太高了。”

鮑韋爾指出，一個(gè)專業(yè)碩士項(xiàng)目要想取得成功，首先必須解決就業(yè)安置的問(wèn)題。“從一開(kāi)始就要考慮最后的問(wèn)題，而不是簡(jiǎn)單地把幾門課程打包在一塊，希望學(xué)生來(lái)上課。”然而不幸的是，現(xiàn)在很多商學(xué)院都是這樣做的。

鮑韋爾表示：“就算這個(gè)市場(chǎng)沒(méi)有飽和，也很快就會(huì)飽和了。但我認(rèn)為，只要有了設(shè)計(jì)得很優(yōu)秀的專業(yè)碩士項(xiàng)目，就不用害怕市場(chǎng)飽和。”（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：樸成奎

審校：任文科

For many mid-tier business schools, the last few years have been tough.

The hyper growth of the MBA degree, making it the most popular graduate degree in the U.S., has stalled. Some schools, including Wake Forest University and Simmons College, have recently pulled out of the full-time, on-campus MBA market after years of declining applications and enrollment. And only three months ago, Rochester University’s Simon School of Business slashed the price of its two-year MBA by nearly 14%. Meantime, enrollment in many part-time MBA programs—long a profit-making mainstay of business education—has been sliding as well.

Against this sobering backdrop, however, alternatives to an MBA are multiplying in business schools, as increasing numbers of specialized master’s degree programs offer a quick ticket to a job. Since around 2009, top schools have been adding such programs at a dizzying pace, both in traditional fields such as finance and marketing as well as in hot fields such as business analytics and big data and a broad spectrum of other business niches.

Half of the top-25 schools have unveiled new specialized master’s programs in the past three years, and they’ve been attracting huge numbers of applicants. Globally, more than a fifth of prospective business students are focused exclusively on specialized master’s programs, according to the Graduate Management Admission Council.

But business school insiders warn that some schools see the increasingly popular master’s degrees as a license to print money, and may not provide the outcomes students desire.

For people considering graduate business education, a specialized master’s presents an opportunity for a jumpstart into business, and keeps open the possibility of getting an MBA later, when advancement or a movement into general management may require it. Many programs are aimed at recent college graduates, while a smaller number offer an early- or mid-career boost.

“We don’t see these programs as sort of ‘MBA lite,’” says Eric Johnson, Dean of the Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management. “They really are much closer to undergraduate programs on steroids.”

Six fields dominate the specialty master’s programs at the top 50 U.S. business schools: accounting, business analytics, finance, management, financial engineering, and supply chain management.

Most programs require the GMAT or GRE exam, but unlike MBA programs significant work experience is often not necessary, although technical degrees generally have undergraduate-level course or degree prerequisites for enrollment.

Employment rates and starting salaries for specialty master’s graduates of the top-ranked schools tend to be reasonably high, and are also strong in many mid-tier schools. The UCLA Anderson School of Management added a master’s in financial engineering in 2008. Among Class of 2014 graduates, 93% had found jobs within three months of graduation, up from 75% in 2010. Average starting base salary for the 2014 class was $85,000 (a drop from previous years—it had been $95,000 to $100,000 between 2010 and 2013, much closer to the Anderson MBA Class of 2014’s $110,000).

In the University of Texas McCombs School’s business analytics MS program—which last year had 650 applications for a 60-seat cohort—starting salaries for graduates who had come straight into the program from college was $75,000 for 2013 and 2014, with a median salary of $89,000 among all students in the two classes. The school’s 2014 MBAs, in contrast, received starting pay of $107,000. All but one of the graduates of the two business analytics classes were employed by 60 days after finishing the program.

Getting a specialized master’s degree from a business school is generally much less costly than getting an MBA, mostly because it usually takes a year or less. But tuition is not cheap. Three of the master’s programs at NYU Stern School of Business run at around $69,000 for the year.

Carnegie Mellon University’s 16-month MS in computational finance, housed at the Tepper School of Business, costs more than $80,000.

The least expensive programs offered by Top 25 schools are the master’s in information systems, from the University of Washington Foster School of Business, at $33,000, and from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, at $34,500. Michigan State Broad College of Business runs accounting and marketing research master’s programs with tuition less than $30,000 for state residents.

Master’s programs in highly ranked B-schools tend to be arduous. “We’re working folks very, very hard in a compressed time frame,” says Michael Hasler, director of the McCombs business analytics program, which demands 15 credit hours per semester, compared to the typical load of nine in other University of Texas graduate programs.

The Kelley School’s Philip Powell believes rigor adds impact to a master’s program. “If you can introduce a program more rigorous than an MBA, that’s a disruptive way to think about an MS program, and that’s the way to deliver value,” Powell says. “We’ve learned that if an MS program is going to be successful, in some ways it needs to be tougher than the MBA.”

The specialized programs generally attract large numbers of international students. The University of Michigan Ross School of Business master’s in supply chain management students are about 90% international. Financial engineering programs at UCLA Anderson and Carnegie Mellon Tepper attract some 80% foreign students, while the master’s in management at the Duke University Fuqua School of Business attracts 43% internationals, and business analytics at McCombs takes in 37%.

Moving down the rankings from the top, the number of specialty master’s programs swells. Among Poets&Quants‘ top 25 business schools, only three have five or more specialized master’s programs, while more than half of the next 25 schools offer them, some in vast numbers: the USC Marshall School of Business, ranked 26th, has 11 degrees, and the No. 50 Temple University Fox School of Business has a whopping 13.

Also in the lower half of the top 50 are offerings in many niche fields, on top of the more widely available degrees in areas such as accounting and finance. USC Marshall, for example, confers master’s degrees in finance and marketing, but also in medical management, business for veterans, and management in library and information science. Temple Fox’s lineup covers popular fields such as marketing, accountancy, and business analytics, and also narrower areas including cyber security and actuarial science.

In fact, once you get down into the lower half of the top 50 B-schools, you’ll find a program for just about any career direction, from biotechnology management at the U.C. Irvine Merage School, to global real estate at the Wisconsin School of Business, to sport management at SMU’s Cox School, to government contracts at George Washington University.

Specialty programs have been multiplying and growing in class size as a result of a confluence of factors. On the student side, there’s growing demand among college graduates who want a quick boost that will differentiate them from others with undergraduate degrees. On the employer side, technological advancement has ratcheted up competition in every sector, and companies want to hire employees who can start producing right away, with little or no training.

But would-be specialty master’s students beware: among the many useful programs are a few that were ill-conceived, and are less likely to give graduates the outcomes they want, warns Tim Westerbeck, founder of the business school consulting firm Eduvantis.

“It is not an uncommon situation to go into a school that says, ‘Gosh, we thought this was a really good area to offer a program in…but it turns out we’re having trouble competing,’” Westerbeck says.

Almost always, when there are problems it is because school administrators have not paid enough heed to local market conditions: both the job market for students, and the competitive environment with other schools, Westerbeck says.

Indiana University Kelley School of Business’s Philip Powell is even warier of the specialized master’s degree at many institutions.

“It’s an act of desperation by some business schools,” says Powell, faculty chair of the “Kelley Direct” online MS programs. “They want to make a quick buck. Given the way business schools act, the market’s going to be really scarce with really well-designed MS programs. Even the quality schools are going to launch bad MS programs.”

Powell attributes the explosion of specialized master’s programs in large part to declining demand for MBA degrees. “The cost of the MBA has risen faster in real terms than the benefits, and anytime that happens in a market that’s going to open up demand for alternatives that give a better value proposition. Opportunity cost of the residential MBA, it’s just gotten too high,” Powell says.

To be successful with an MS program, a school has to start with the question of career placement, Powell says. “You begin with the end in mind; you just don’t slap courses together and hope students show up, ” he says.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of schools who are doing that.

“If we’re not saturated we’re quickly going to be saturated,” Powell says. “But I don’t think we’re going to be saturated with the smartly designed MS programs I’m talking about.”